South Australia’s stagnant tourism numbers

December 17, 2015

The State Liberals are calling on the Minister for Tourism Leon Bignell to explain why data released today shows the number of domestic visitor nights in South Australia has remained stagnant in the last 12 months.

“It is deeply concerning that South Australia is the only state that had zero growth in the critical visitor nights category,” said Shadow Minister for Tourism David Ridgway.

Tourism Research Australia: Visitor nights

State

Year ending September 2014 ('000)

Year ending September 2015 ('000)

Change

1

NSW 86,996

90,163

4%

2

Qld 78,508

80,659

3%

3

Vic 61,714

62,812

2%

4

WA 33,987

39,342

16%

5

SA 20,723

20,637

0%

6

Tas 8,704

10,306

18%

7

NT 6,049

8,000

32%

8

ACT 5,688

6,311

11%

“The fact there was no growth in visitor night numbers saw spending by interstate and intrastate tourists in South Australia lift by just 2 per cent in the last 12 months.

“The 2 per cent increase in tourism expenditure also left South Australia at the bottom of the pack in that category.

“With the fall in the Australian dollar domestic tourism should be a bright spot in the otherwise troubled South Australian economy.

“Certainly Western Australia and Tasmania are making hay while the sun shines with double digit growth producing a substantial boost for their economies.

“I suspect our globe-trotting Tourism Minister Leon Bignell has taken his eye of the ball regarding the domestic visitor market. I hope he doesn’t try to shrug off our poor result by questioning the veracity of the figures.”